Sales reports suggest Sony’s Xperia Z is a hit

Remember the last time Sony (SNE) had a hit smartphone? That’s a trick question because Sony has never had a hit smartphone. But there’s a first time for everything and unnamed sources have told Digitimes that Sony’s new Xperia Z smartphone has sold out of its initial stock in Japan, France, Germany, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Digitimes report backs up previous reports we’ve read about showing the Xperia Z selling well not only in Japan and France but in Italy and Spain as well. The Xperia Z’s strong sales are somewhat surprising given Sony’s previous lack of success in the smartphone realm and the fact that Sony launched the device in the same quarter that both HTC (2498) and Samsung (005930) launched flagship Android smartphones of their own.